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CPU Intel P4 840 D P4 820 D P4 630 P4 640 P4 650 P4 660 P4 670 AMD Athlon64 3500+ 3700+ 3800+ 4000+ X2-3800+ X2-4200+ X2-4400+ X2-4600+ X2-4800+ 1-Way Opteron Opteron 144 Opteron 146 Opteron 148 Opteron 150 Opteron 152 2-Way Opteron Opteron 240 Opteron 242 Opteron 244 Opteron 246 Opteron 248 Opteron 250 Opteron 252 2-Way Dual Core Opteron Opteron 270 Opteron 275 nVidia GF 7800GT GF 6800GT GF 6600GT ATI R X850 XT PE R X850 XT R X800 XT PE R X800 XT R X800 XL Memory Corsair Crucial Kingston Mushkin OCZ What are you shopping for?

The Candidates

Corsair

We have three different Corsair modules here, part numbers XMS3200v1.1 (no holograph), XMS3202v1.1 and xms3206v1.1 (Platinum Series). All three modules are identical on the surface, that is they all use the 50-00107 Rev A1 6-layer PCB and the same W942508BH-5 Winbond components. The SPD programming is different for the three modules but in the case of the ASUS P4C800 it does not matter since the board does not read the SPD anyway and assigns 2.5:4:4:8 latency values (CAS:tRCD:tRP:tRAS) whenever DDR400 mode is selected. The only obvious difference in the hardware is the color and the decals on the heat spreaders. The frequency/latencies are for the TwinX (3206) DDR400 / 2:2:2:6 -T1 where the T1 supposedly stands for the command and address decode latency, which is a chipset latency that only depends on the amount of system memory so I am not sure what this label is supposed to mean. The XMS3202 only specifies DDR400 and CL2, the same goes for the XMS3200. Only the TwinX Platinum uses Winbond -5 components, the other two DIMMs were found to use -6 chips and are technically PC2700 rather than PC3200.

The Three Amigos, er, Corsairs, click for larger picture.

KINGMAX

The most exotic of the candidates tested here uses 128 Mbit technology KDL684T4AA-50 BGA packaged chips on a 6 layer PCB. Because of the lower density of the components, the KINGMAX module needs to fill both physical banks for a total module density of 256 MB. In theory, lower density parts are faster, especially with respect to latencies but the KINGMAX DIMM is labeled as CAS-3 module, a latency that is not supported by the ASUS P4C800.

"Dusty Rose"-colored components may not be to everybody's liking but the entire color scheme is reminiscent of a Japanese cherry tree. Click for larger picture.

Mushkin

Mushkin's signature black PCB stands out from the phalanx of green circuit boards. Similar as in the case of the Corsair DIMMs, the individual components are distributed across both sides of the module but the configuration is still a "single-sided" or "single-bank" module. The components used are the same W942508BH-5 Winbond discretes as used by Corsair on the TWINX.

We did the Frank Perdue on the PC3500 and took it all off. And then we put the copper Heatspreader back on. Click for larger picture.

Samsung Original PC3200

Samsung, of course does not use Winbond Chips, rather, they are using their own K4H560838D-TCC4 components and the modules are rated at CAS-3. All components are on one side of the module which is less expensive to manufacture

Samsung and TwinMOS are using the same PCB but different components.

TwinMOS

TwinMOS is using their own TMD7608F8E500 componens, the package of which bears a remakable resemblance with the Winbond chips which makes us believe that they are, in fact a private label of Winbonds.

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